Frozen
by Corovera
Summary: #54 of my 100 Themes one-shot challenge. For Felix, it takes a while before Prox starts to feel like home.


It's been ages since I played any of the Golden Sun games, so I might've gotten some of the details wrong. Hopefully the story still works OK.

* * *

It was the cold that took Felix by surprise when he first arrived in Prox. Vale got chilly in the winter, but it never snowed all that much, and it was never anything a warm jacket couldn't keep at bay. But here? Here it was _cold._ Saturos and Menardi had made a point of buying him a heavy coat and wool underclothes a few towns back. He'd figured they were being overly cautious. He'd been wrong.

The others, being the strange sort of dragon-people that they were, didn't seem to feel the cold. He was the only one that needed to be protected from it, and it made him feel more vulnerable that he would have liked. Just one more thing that made him wish he were home. He wanted to go back, but the answer was always the same. "Not now," they'd say. "We need you," they'd say. They promised that they'd show him why, but until then, he'd just have to trust them.

Felix didn't trust them. Not Saturos or Menardi, or any of the Mars Clan. As far as he was concerned, he was a prisoner here. Why else would they refuse to take him back to Vale? He considered running away on his own, but the more he thought about it, the less plausible the idea seemed. He didn't know the way to the nearest town, let alone all the way back home. And even if he did, there were monsters all over the place – far too many for one boy to handle, Adept or not. Besides, he'd probably freeze to death long before he made it anywhere. He was stuck.

The people, at least, were friendly. Most of them were glad to have a visitor, regardless of the circumstances. He was kept well-fed and given plenty of warm clothes, and the elderly couple he'd ended up staying with were careful to always leave a fire burning for him in their house. Gradually, he became more accustomed to this strange village. But still, he missed his family, and his home.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Saturos and Menardi took him out of the village and promised to explain everything. They spent the better part of that day walking through the snow, occasionally stopping to take breaks or to fight off monsters. AS they progressed, it grew warmer, and the snow began to disappear. Apparently there was a volcano nearby, or something, but that wasn't where they were going. By the time they reached their destination, the ground was covered only by dust. "This is it," Menardi told him.

Felix walked closer to the cliff. Beyond it, he could see nothing but thick clouds, stretching on endlessly. "It's…a canyon?" he said.

"Not a canyon," Saturos corrected. "This is the edge of the world, kid. And the ground we're standing on? Give it a few years, and it'll be gone."

Felix stood in stunned silence for a while, trying to make sense of the implications. "So the world is shrinking?" he finally asked.

"Bingo," replied Saturos. "And if we don't bring Alchemy back to the world, then eventually there won't be anything left of it."

Felix stepped away from the edge, not wanting to look at it anymore. "But isn't Alchemy dangerous?" he asked.

"That's why it was sealed away, yes," Menardi answered. "But by sealing it away, the ancients also cut off this world from its very life force. Whether or not we're ready for Alchemy to return doesn't matter. It has to happen."

She looked Felix straight in the eye. "In your hometown lies Sol Sanctum, and within it, the keys to return the world to its natural state. Someday soon, we will return there and take them. When we do, we will need you to come with us."

Felix wasn't sure what to say. "We're going to need a Venus Adept to unseal Venus Lighthouse," she added. "I suppose we could find another one, but that would take time…and we don't have much of that. So I'm afraid we're going to have to insist."

"I don't know if the people at home are going to like this," Felix admitted.

"They probably won't," Saturos told him. "Chances are they'll try to stop us. But if we don't light the beacons, then the world will continue to wither and die, and eventually it'll reach them too. Long story short, we need you, and it'd be a lot easier on all of us if you help us out willingly. Can you do that for us?"

Felix nodded. "I will."

With the reasons for his situation explained, Felix felt a lot less like a prisoner. During the rest of his time there, Prox began to grow on him, and he even found that he'd started to like it. He learned the names of all the villagers, listened to their stories, and learned from them. It became clear that this place didn't have much time left, if the world continued to deteriorate the way it had been. That might not have bothered him so much when he'd first arrived, but now that this village had become familiar, it was unacceptable.

Soon, the time would come when he would return home, although he wished the circumstances could have been better. He hoped his friends and family would understand, but if they didn't, Felix knew that he would still have to complete this mission. There was far too much at stake to do otherwise.


End file.
